China Printing Industry White Paper (2012) Released: Six 2011 Trends and Two Gaps

China's printing industry white paper, China's Printing Industry Development (2012), was recently issued at the national training session for printing and replication demonstration enterprises and green printing. The document provides a concise assessment of the sector's current state, notable features and pressing issues.

According to the white paper, by the end of 2011 China had 102,484 printing enterprises, a year-on-year decline of 1.8%. The workforce stood at 3.5667 million, down 2.7%. Total printing output value reached 867.713 billion yuan, up 12.59%; total assets were 925.666 billion yuan, up 9.96%; total profits came to 73.987 billion yuan, up 8.31%; and foreign processing trade amounted to 68.009 billion yuan, up 2.9%.

The white paper groups the development of China's printing industry in 2011 into six characteristics.

First, the sector continued to grow at a relatively fast pace. In 2011, total printing output value reached 867.71 billion yuan, up 12.6% year on year, outpacing the national economy's 9.3% growth and bringing the overall scale close to second place. Industry-wide assets rose 10% and total profits rose 8.3%, even as enterprise numbers fell 1.8% and employment fell 2.7%. With both enterprise and workforce counts declining while output and profits still expanded, the data points to a gradual rise in industry consolidation.

Second, above-scale enterprises delivered much stronger performance. In 2011, there were 2,439 key printing enterprises above designated size, representing 2.4% of all enterprises. Their combined output value was 439.69 billion yuan, or 50.7% of the industry total, 4 percentage points higher than the previous year. The quick increase in the number of these key above-scale enterprises and their rising share of output show that structural adjustment measures have strengthened their overall capabilities, making them the main force in China's printing industry.

Third, regions such as the Yangtze River Delta showed clear advantages. The Pearl River Delta has long been one of China's advanced printing regions, contributing nearly 20% of national printing output value and more than 70% of foreign processing trade. Facing slower economic growth, exchange-rate shifts and higher labor costs, Guangdong saw its printing-related foreign processing trade fall by nearly 17% in 2011. At the same time, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Fujian and other areas expanded rapidly: Shanghai reached 6.96 billion yuan, up 50.5%, while Jiangsu reached 8.07 billion yuan, up 46.2%. This helped lift the national foreign processing trade total by 2.9% in 2011. The trend suggests that China's printing foreign processing trade is moving from a Pearl River Delta concentration toward shared growth with the Yangtze River Delta.

Fourth, green printing implementation has produced important interim results. Over the past two years, it has contributed to energy saving, emissions reduction, structural adjustment and public welfare. Estimates indicate that environmental measures have cut printing companies' combined energy and material costs by about 500 million yuan per year. Volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions have been reduced by roughly 1.5% of the annual total. More than 160 companies hold green printing certification; although they account for only 0.15% of the national total, they generate 4.5% of industry output value. In autumn 2012, over 1,000 textbook titles and 200 million copies were printed with green printing, giving more than half of China's primary and secondary students at least one green-printed textbook.

Fifth, digital printing maintained rapid growth. In 2011, China had 799 digital printing companies with output value of 3.974 billion yuan, equal to 0.46% of total printing output. Dedicated digital printing firms numbered 144 and produced 1.151 billion yuan, while 655 companies with digital printing operations generated 2.823 billion yuan. The installed base of production digital printing presses reached 2,145 units. The white paper notes that traditional printing enterprises are currently the main driver of digital printing, and that the segment still has broad room to grow.

Sixth, printing parks demonstrated a notable clustering effect. Across 16 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, 66 printing parks have been built, with total investment of 21.27 billion yuan. They host 964 printing enterprises, or 0.94% of the national total, and generate 25.9 billion yuan in printing output value, equal to 3% of the industry total. Park output value grew 19.2%, far above the industry average, highlighting clear industrial cluster and development effects. The Shanghai Jinshan National Green Creative Printing Demonstration Park grew especially fast: its total output value rose from 280 million yuan in 2010 to 650 million yuan in 2011, a 2.3-fold increase, and it continued to expand rapidly.

The white paper also identifies two current problems: relatively low consolidation and a lack of core competitiveness, plus insufficient investment in independent innovation and a need to improve quality and potential. It therefore offers four recommendations: accelerate green printing adoption and vigorously adjust the structure; cultivate leading and backbone enterprises to strengthen competitiveness; increase investment in innovation and upgrading to drive transformation; and improve industry supervision to create a healthy environment.

This article is reposted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn), original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-361985.html